1931 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750

Alfa Romeo was founded in 1910, and in 1923, Nicola Romeo hired Vittorio Jano, a talented engineer from rival Fiat. Sig. Romeo desired to build a successful Grand Prix car, and Sig. Jano had the technical and managerial expertise to ascertain this goal. After less than a year, the P2 was introduced, and it was an immediate success, winning several Grand Prix races and claiming the first manufacturer's championship for Alfa Romeo in 1925.

Jano supervised Alfa Romeo's Grand Prix racing program and designed its road cars. The latter were some of the most exciting of their era, quickly establishing the Milanese marque's reputation for producing sporting driver's cars. The P2 was followed by a production chassis with similar sporting potential. It was a series of six-cylinder (6C) cars built between 1927 and 1933 in various specifications. During this production lifespan, Alfa Romeo produced 3,514 examples of all types of the 6C. The rarest was the Super Sport and Gran Sport 1750, which was equipped with a straight-six engine, with twin overhead camshafts, hemispherical combustion chambers, and Roots-type superchargers. In total, three hundred and nine of these 6C 1750 Alfa Romeos were built, all wearing elegant custom bodies by the preeminent European carrozzerie. In both Gran Sport and Testa Fissa forms, 6C 1750s were victorious in nearly every major sports car race of the day, including the 24 Hours of Spa, Mille Miglia, Brooklands Double Twelve, and the Tourist Trophy Race.

Alfa Romeo introduced the 6C 1500 in 1925 at the Milan Motor Show and came equipped with a straight-six engine with a 1.5-liter (1,487cc) displacement size. Series production began in 1927 with early examples bodied by James Young and Touring. The engine had an aluminum block with a cast-iron head, a single carburetor, and single overhead camshafts, delivering 44 horsepower at 4,200 RPM. A dual overhead-camshaft version of the engine with 54 horsepower arrived in 1928 with the 6C Sport. The ultimate configuration was the Super Sport Testa Fissa with a single carburetor, a supercharger, and dual overhead camshafts, delivering 84 horsepower at 5,000 RPM.

The 6C 1750, arriving in 1929, was a logical derivative of the Tipo 6C 1500, itself a direct descendent of the P2. Powered by a 1,752cc engine, it was built in single-cam Turismo and twin-cam Sport (later renamed Gran Turismo) variants. The low and lightweight chassis used semi-elliptic springs that passed through the front axle. Most examples were sold as rolling chassis and bodied by coachbuilders such as Touring Superleggera and Zagato.

In motorsport competition during the 1929 season, the 6C was victorious in every major racing event it contested. It won at the Grand Prix of Belgium, Spain, Tuins and Monza. The Mille Miglia was won by Giuseppe Campari and Giulio Ramponi in a 6C 1750, and another example won the Ulster TT and the Brooklands Double Twelve. During the 1930 season, it again won the Mille Miglia and Spa 24 Hours.

by Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2019